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S ER BPOrN ia 
PREACHED TO THE FIRST CHURCH, 
ON SUNDAY MORNING, 


‘ , APRIL 23, 1837. 


BITS MINISTER, 
Se A F 


N. L. FROTHINGHAM. 





Published by request, 





MUNROE & FRANCIS, 128 WASHINGTON-ST. 
BOSTON, 1837. 





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DUTIES 


OF Va A RW LM Ese 


1 CHRONICLES xii. 32. 


Men that had understanding of the times, to know what 
Israel ought to do. 


Tue times were disturbed and wild that 
are alluded to here ; not dark merely, but 
tempestuous ; not hard, but iron. ‘They were 
times of anarchy and of war; and not of those 
transient depressions and anxieties, and simple 
changes of fortune, which we are accustomed 
to call public distress. Israel had no financial 
system to be deranged, no trade to be par- 
alysed, no wealth to be put at hazard or lost. 
It remained faithful as yet, in its weakness and 


sce | Za, 


4 THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMES. 


poverty,‘ to: ‘those. Ait lations of Moses its great 
lawgiver, ‘which disconnténanced all the uses of 
ee: that make: so iniportant a figure 1 in mod- 
ern civilization. : At had | mever even thought of 
foreign exterprtise: “No sail of its weaving had 
been spread upon any of the waters of the 
neighbouring seas. And while it was wholly 
without commerce abroad, its dealings within 
its own borders were equalized by the return of 
the year of jubilee ; when, at every half centu- 
ry, all debts were cancelled, the bond-servant 
was freed, and the landed property that had 
been alienated was restored to its former pos- 
sessors. It was altogether an agricultural and 
a manufacturing people; and even that, only 
within the narrow limits, which its small terri- 
tory, its ignorance of ships, and its non-inter- 
course with strangers, prescribed. 

At the period, of which we are now speaking, 
the trouble that arose was not from any failure 
of the regular harvest ;—for then they who 
gathered it must have done with less, and there 
would have been the end. Neither did it pro- 
ceed from any interference with domestic in- 
dustry, whether from one or another quarter ; 


THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMES. 5) 


for the system of the plain Hebrews was too 
simple to admit of being easily discomposed. 
But the tribes had been put to the worse before 
the enemy they had often repelled ; and Saul, 
the first monarch they had ever elected, had 
fallen in the lost battle ; and Jonathan, the no- 
ble son who should have succeeded him, “ the 
beauty of Israel,’ was “slain in his high pla- 
ces ;’ and there was every where dismay. At 
this crisis arose David,—the child of a rustic, 
and the son-in-law of a king,—he who had 
tended the sheep and smitten the giant. His 
character was composed as strangely as his for- 
tunes. He was a harper and a _ chieftain, 
though but a youth ;—an active warrior, and 
yet the author of psalms, that modern invention 
can do little better than translate and para- 
phrase. He arose, as the leading star ; and the 
question was whether the people would follow 
him. The chapter, from which the text 1s ta- 
ken, records the muster-roll of his forces ;—and 
among those were “ expert in war,’ and “ bare 
shield and spear,” we find those also, who * had 
understanding of the times, to know what Israel 
ought to do.” They were men of discernment 


6 THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMES. 


and forecast and moral perceptions. They 
read wisely the past. They considered what 
was just and becoming. They looked at 
principles, as well as to chances. They delib- 
erated “ what Israel ought to do.” And when 
they decided to adhere to the son of Jesse, 
there could have been no help to him lke 
theirs. The public welfare was better protect- 
ed by their counsel, than by all the captains 
and armed bands, that had come from every 
part of the country to make him king in He- 
bron. 

My brethren, though the social condition of 
the Hebrews was every way unlike our own, 
and the causes that affected the general pros- 
perity were widely apart from those that disturb 
ours; yet the mind passes easily from one kind 
of hard times to any other. They all teach 
similar admonitions to those whom they afflict. 
They inspire thoughtfulness. They show the 
need of a discreet guidance. ‘They demand to 
be put to some moral uses. ‘They call upon 
the aid of those, who shall have a true “ under- 
standing” of them; who shall inquire and 
“ know what Israel oucur to do.” 


THE DUTIES OF "HARD TIMES. fe 


The duties of such seasons are unhappily 
an appropriate subject for our present consid- 
eration. The discourse can attempt but to 
touch ona few of these, and that but slight- 
ly ; rather suggesting such thoughts as are 
plainest, than fully unfolding any, much less 
discussing them. 

The first duty of those, who would be like 
king David’s men,—having understanding of the 
times and knowing what ought to be done,— 
will be, according to the opinion of many, to 
study and ascertain the causes that have pro- 
duced the trouble. For the chief object in 
view, they may say, 1s to deliver ourselves from 
the evils of our condition; and we cannot 
do this till we have learned how they were 
brought on. How can we apply the remedy 
till we have come to understand the source and 
character of the disease ? And doubtless it 
would be in many cases wise so to consider 
it. There is always a degree of attention due 
in that direction. But then, on the other hand, 
there will be cases, in which little is to be 
gained by such investigations ; when it will be 
of more consequence to contemplate the im- 


8 THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMES. 


mediate obligations that are upon us, than to 
speculate on the irremediable past; and it 
will not be so wise to dispute about distant 
causes, as to put in practice what is “ good for 
the present distress.’ Without entering into 
questions that are of an intricate sort, involving 
nice points in the philosophy of wealth, and 
mixed up perhaps with political partialities, 
every one may judge for himself what improve- 
ment his own should be from the circumstan- 
ces, in which the community is placed. If he 
will give his mind to that, he may be more use- 
fully occupied, than in attempting to explain or 
to influence those great processes of public 
fortune, which must be left to the intelligence 
and control of comparatively few persons, and 
above all to the hands of a disciplinary Prov- 
idence ;—that Providence, which always teach- 
es when it strikes ; which visits in the line of 
regular laws, and not by starts and arbitrary 
inflictions ; and, when it sends its “ judgements,” 
intends that “ the people shall learn righteous- 
ness.” 

In the instance now before us, the question 
is not how we shall make the times any better ; 


o 
*p.® ) 
2 a0” ’ 9 > 


THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMPs?) 2°) Gg 


—that were a hopeless undertaking ;—but how 
we shall make ourselves better by reason of the 
times. This is within each one’s personal 
province, and let him look to it. He may 
then be dispensed, if he chooses, from the 
search into those strangely twisted occasions 
of the evil, which it may not be easy fully 
to unravel. 

In such a simple and rude state of society 
as that spoken of in our text, there was no dif- 
ficulty in discerning at once the origin of any of 
the straits, or the scourges, to which the land 
could be put. Disease might infect its air and 
thin its inhabitants; and no one could then 
doubt why the people wept and trembled. The 
drought and the mildew, the locust and the 
caterpillar, might make its supplies scanty of 
the common necessaries of life; and no one 
could then mistake the messengers of famine. 
A border tribe might invade its territory, or a 
civil convulsion rend its peace; and then the 
shining armour would show, and the blast of 
the trumpet would tell, the nature of its 


suffering. One could see with his eyes the 


2 


19): THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMES. 


desolations of the earthquake, the tempest, the 
flood. 

But widely different is it, when we come to 
the complicated movements of social interests 
at the present day, to the laws of currency, to 
the fluctuations of trade, to the vexed questions 
concerning credit and capital, and to the va- 
rious phenomena of a nation’s interests. We 
use a phrase that is of constant occurrence, 
when we speak of the commercial world. But 
few are aware how full of meaning that term 
is, and how well it characterizes the thing that 
it describes. It is indeed a world,—a world of 
itself. It embraces within its dominion the 
kingdoms both of nature and of art ; the earth 
and its productions ; the sea, with what moves 
upon its surface or dwells in its deeps ;_ the air, 
from the small wings that flutter through it, 
up to the very princes of its powers; and the 
whole industry of man however exercised. 
Steam, smoke, wind,——human strength, skill, 
invention,—are in some degree its agents and its 
subjects. And, while it is thus extensive and 
multiform in its dominion, it is governed by 


rules that are peculiar to itself. Its operations 


THE DUTIES OF’ HARD TIMES. 11 


must be studied apart from every thing else. It 
has its own elements with their changeful 
play. It has its own laws with their secret 
forces. There are its special impulses, and 
hindrances, and disturbances from innumerable 
quarters, forming alone a vast system. It re- 
quires various knowledge to comprehend it PEt 
constitutes a peculiar study. The science of it 
is itself as yet new. How, then, should we ex- 
pect to penetrate, with a superficial glance, the 
mysteries of so wide an empire; and certify 
with exactness, and easily, all the causes that 
may have concurred to produce any particular 
pressure in the times 

Instead of endeavouring to do any thing like 
it, let us but settle these few conclusions in our 
minds ;—that, in our artificial age and free 
country, natural accidents can be very little 
concerned with it ;—that political enactments 
are not likely to have been such mighty masters 
of the dark spell, as many will imagine ;—and 
that moral causes have been chiefly operative in 
the disastrous result. Those causes may 
be founded in greedy passions, and ambitious 


12 THE DUTIES OF, HARD -TI MBisi 


indulgences, and the haste to be rich, and 
headlong schemes, and strange delusions. 

Let us listen, then, to the voice of these 
times, as they are sweeping aloft over our lives 
and their fortunes. What it would say has 
been already indistinctly implied. But let us 
take up a few particular points ofits speech. 
Let us make them clear, though our limits will 
not allow us to give them any fulness. 


I. It warns us, in the first place, against 
having too high a conceit of uncertain treas- 
ures ; making them the chief object of heated 
pursuit ; coveting them as the principal good ; 
and looking to sheltering ourselves behind them 
as the strongest security. ‘“ Say not to the fine 
gold, Thou art my confidence.” Vain trust ! 
See how wealth changes hands, and accumu- 
lates but to disappear. Evil chances waste 
it. Other thieves than those who are called 
such break through and will have their part. 
The moth is in its wardrobes. The rust is 
upon its splendour. Calamities, that could not 
be foreseen, and cannot with certainty be traced, 
may make its boasted defences totter. Its ship 


THE DUTIES OF- HARD TIMES. 13 


is on a fickle element. Its cargoes are brought 
to a doubtful mart. What it holds may de- 
preciate, as well as what it must risk be 
lost. Its warehouse is watched by secret foes, 
who may work it a harm, sometimes in the 
shape as of a worm in the timbers, and some- 
times as of a bursting flame through the roof. 
Let your treasure rather be there, where your 
whole heart, without a reproach, can “ be 
also.” In the chambers of a mind, both fur- 
nished and fortified. In the resources of 
pleasant remembrances and upright intents. In 
the “ heaven” of a peaceful conscience and an 
imperishable hope. : 


II. The voice utters itself again. Be mod- 
erate in your desires. Be circumspect in your 
walk. Aspire not beyond your measure. 
Strive not beyond your strength. “Seek not 
great things for thyself ;”’ but be patient, be 
persevering, and be content. Let your indus- 
try work within its own lines, and be satisfied 
with regular and steady advances, however 
slow. Run not because you see others run- 
ning. Pursue quietly the labours of your 


14 THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMES. 


proper sphere, without impatience or envy or 
rash emulation. Let not the troubles and the 
wrecks around you be an indifferent, or an 
uninteresting spectacle, but, while they make you 
compassionate, teach you to take heed. Keep 
within your means. Use not what is another’s 
as if it were yourown; and press not cov- 
etously upon another’s shrinking finances in or- 
der to make them your own. Avoid the pre- 
tension of appearing what you are not, and be 
not anxious to enlarge your real condition too 
fast. Remember that the growth which is 
gradual is the likeliest to endure. Be not 
misled by dazzling prospects ; or by the strata- 
gems and eager scheming, that would substitute 
themselves for sober and ‘well-understood em- 
ployments. Beware, lest avarice on the one 
hand, or extravagance on the other, should 
seduce you to throw at hazard what you can 
make to be enough, through the hope of making 
it suddenly or greatly more. 


III. Again speaks the voice of the times, 
and tells us—what we might not have expected 


THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMES. 15 


to hear—that we should be thankful. And 
do you ask with some surprise, why you 
should be thankful in a season of affliction 
and alarm? Among the several good rea- 
sons that might be given in reply, I will 
name but one. It is, because you can call such 
a season of impediments and reverses, as is 
now upon us, by such severe epithets as 
you have just used. Ihave no wish to rep- 
resent as less than they are the sufferings 
of the mercantile community, which are now 
the theme of all tongues ;—sufferings, with 
which I would deeply sympathize, although set 
aloof from a familiar acquaintance with them, 
and incapable of forming concerning them any 
very accurate judgment. But in the midst of 
them all what a crowd there is of blessings, 
privileges, distinctions ! No people on earth so 
exempt from every manner of imposed burthens 
as we. At peace with the whole world, bound 
together among ourselves in general amity,— 
there is “none to molest, or make us afraid.” 
There is an abundance of resources.  Intelli- 
gence, skill, activity, reign among us. They 
have the widest scope, and the utmost possible 


16 THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMES. 


freedom, for their exercise. On every side are 
the signs of cultivated life, and the materials— 
all the materials—of public prosperity. Think 
what the word “ distress” meant, when David 
numbered his warriors and counsellors at He- 
bron. Or if you are unwilling to go back so 
far for a comparison, look at what one of the 
fairest portions of Europe 1s at this moment,— 
and has been for many a dreary month, many 
a bloody year. There would be small mention 
in poor Spain of the derangements of trade, 
where the exchange is of blows and _ hate ; 
where the fields are ploughed with the wheels 
of baggage-waggons, and cannon shot ; and the 
sickle is often the sword. On the very last 
Christmas day, while we were celebrating the 
birth of “the prince of peace,” with rejoicing 
on all sides of us, the battle had been raging 
round the walls of one of its large towns*, and 
none of the miseries of civil war were left 
unendured, none of its atrocities unper- 
petrated. And not three weeks since, when 
on what we called our Fast we took our 
“ pleasure, t I doubt not we shall learn, when 


* Bilboa. + Isaiah lviii. 3. 


THE DUTIES OF HARD TIMES. 17 


tidings reach us from those distracted shores, 
that many did there fast indeed, from the 
scarcity of life’s supplies, and the anguish of 
breaking hearts. Let no one, when he thinks 
of such things, exaggerate our present trials, 
or deny that we have innumerable causes to be 
grateful. Who were ever called upon to’ give 
thanks, if the people of these united Common- 
wealths have a right to be silent ? 


IV. The voice of the times addresses us 
with one exhortation more. Hope. Droop 
not. Give not up every thing for lost or irrep- 
arably injured, because a chastising change is 
going on among you ; in the course of which 
many will be hurt for their misdeeds ; and many 
who are innocent will be hurt to prevent others 
from misdoing ; and some, who areas distin- 
guished for their worth as they had been for 
their prosperity, will be caught away in the 
whirl of the general disaster, as if to teach anew 
the uncertainty of fortune. Be not forward to 
play the alarmist. Increase not a general 
panic by unreal terrors. Extend not wider 


» 
3) 


18 THE (DUTIES. 0 Fe LARD bTOM ES, 


that want of confidence, whichis one of the 
worst features of the day. Take counsel from 
the past, that you may take courage for the future. 
That is among the things that our “ Israel ought 
to do.” The ebbing tide will return to its 
flow again. The sky will show its blue and 
gold after the clouds are scattered. Doubt not 
of that. Hope in the restorative powers of a 
quick-sighted, quick-handed people. Hope in 
that great law of alternations, which will never 
be repealed, but, in all the domains of human 
sight and experience, streaks the darkness at 
last with its beaming appointments. It is so 
with the night of the twenty-four hours, with 
the wintry night of the year, with the night of 
adverse accidents, and all the gloomy nights of 
the mind. Hope, above all, in the righteous 
administration of heaven. It forsakes not hon- 
est and earnest endeavours. It will establish 
the right, and recompense to the deserving. 
And, when the times of adversity and the times of 
success shall roll away together, with the van- 
ishing scenes of all time, it will provide man- 
sions of endless glory for those, whom no tempta- 
tions here could seduce and no threats terrify, 


10. 


SCRIPTURE LESSON. 


F2Gk 


ECCLESIASTICUS, CHAP. XXIX. 


He that is merciful will lend unto his neighbour ; and 
he that strengtheneth his hand keepeth the command- 
ments. 

Lend to thy neighbour in time of his need, and pay thou 
thy neighbour again in due season. 

Keep thy word, and deal faithfully with him, and thou 
shalt always find the thing that is necessary for thee. 
Many, when a thing is lent them, count it as something 
found, and put to trouble him that helped them. 

Till they have received, they will kiss his hand, and for 
their neighbour’s money will speak submissly ; but, 
when they should repay, they will prolong the day, and 
return words of grief, and complain of the times. 

Many, therefore, have refused to lend, for other men’s 
ill dealing, fearing to be defrauded. 

Yet have thou patience with a man in poor estate, and 
delay not to show him mercy. 

Help the poor for the commandment’s sake, and turn 
him not away in his poverty. 

Rather lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend, 
than let it rest under a stone to be lost. 


20 


11. 


12. 
13. 
15. 


16. 
17, 


18. 


20. 
22. 


23. 


SCRIPTURE LESSON. 


Lay up thy treasures according to the commandments 
of the Most High, and it shall bring thee more profit 
than gold. 

Shut up alms in thy store-houses, and it shall deliver 
thee from affliction. | 

It shall fight for thee against thine enemies better than 
a mighty shield and strong spear. 

Forget not the friendship of thy surety, for he hath 
given his living for thee. 

A sinner will overthrow the good estate of his surety ; 
And he that is of an unthankful mind will leave him 
in danger that delivered him. 

Suretiship hath undone many of good estate, and shaken 
them as a wave of the sea. Mighty men hath it driv- 
en from their houses, so that they wardered among 
strange nations. 

Help thy neighbour according to thy power, but beware 
that thou thyself fall not into the same need. 

Better is the life of a poor man in a mean cottage, than 
delicate fare in the house that is another’s. 

Be it little or much, hold thee contented, so that thow 
hear not reproach. 


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